NEW ORLEANS – Abraham Chelangam of Oklahoma City University took the NAIA men's cross country athlete of the year awarded by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Coming off the heels of Zouhair Talbi's back-to-back NAIA men's cross country athlete of the year awards, Chelangam, a freshman from Kampala, Uganda, scooped up the national runner of the year after raking in the individual national title by finishing the 8,000-meter race in an impressive 23 minutes, 41.9 seconds.  

OCU has won five of the last six individual champions. Chelangam's time was 22 seconds before his teammate Shimales Abebe finished. The duo of Abebe and Chelangam made it the third year in a row that the Stars have taken the top two spots in the NAIA Championships. He took the top spot in the NAIA Mid-States Classic in 24:30.1 and was also runner-up in the Sooner Athletic Conference Cross Championships.

Chelangam joined Talbi (2020-21, 2021) and Mark Shaw (2017, 2019) as OCU individuals who have earned the USTFCCCA accolade.